I'm thinking about trying it, and my doctor says it should be okay with my current medicines, but it's a bit pricy and not covered by insurance, so I'm wondering if any one has had any experience with it. According to the research I've done, some doctors are having good luck using it to treat chronic pain, so I thought it might work for lupus pain too.

01-25-2007, 06:06 PM

Southernbelle

Marycain

I just saw your post today and wondered if you had indeed tried the D-LPA ? I had to look it up to see what you were talking about. If you have tried it, did it give you good results, and are you still taking it?

Grace

01-25-2007, 06:20 PM

MARYCAIN

I was taking it for a while and it did seem to be helping, but it got to be pretty expensive, so I stopped. But since the neurontin I'm taking for neuropathy seems to have stopped working, I may start taking it again.

01-25-2007, 06:24 PM

Southernbelle

Marycain

Of course anything that would help my husband's lupus intrigues me. I just read some info about something called Mirac (?) Have you heard of it?

Grace

01-25-2007, 07:37 PM

MARYCAIN

Hi, Grace - I looked at the information page on Mirac's website frankly, it sounds like one of many "miracle cures" and health scams on the internet. There's nothing listed in the ingredients that you couldn't get from a good quality vitamin with c-complex.

"Ascorbic acid" is a fancy term for vitamin C, which you can get a lot more cheaply by itself, or in citrus fruits and juices. Bromelain is a natural anti-inflammatory agent found in pineapple. So you can get the health benefits of bromelain by eating fresh pineapple, or papaya, which contains a similar enzyme called papain. Quercetin is also a natural anti-inflammatory - foods high in quercetin are apples, green and black teas, onions, cherries, citrus fruit, broccoli, red grapes and red wine, raspberries, and cranberries, The last four ingredients are the stuff the capsules are made of, so they aren't even active ingredients. And the website makes several claims that are simply false - like "Mirac blocks the cells that cause lupus". Anytime you see a claim like that, you should be very skeptical - since even researchers don't know for sure what causes lupus. There's nothing listed in the formula that would hurt, but there's also nothing that would justify the price they are charging. You can buy a complete c-complex at any drug store, and the vitamin supplement aisle at Wal-Mart will probably have a bromelain/quercetin blend that's fairly inexpensive too. If not, you can order online from Puritan's Pride or the Vitamin Shoppe. And there are many ways to get these through food sources. I'm sorry to be so discouraging - I know you want desperately to help your husband, but there are too many people out there ready to take advantage of that desperation by promising a miracle cure with no side effects. Just be as skeptical about them as you would be about anything else you see on infomercials - anything that sounds too good to be true usually is.

01-26-2007, 01:08 PM

Southernbelle

Marycain

I figured it was like that. We already are taking vitamin c, but not a complete vitamin c complex. I will look at Walmart. I don't think you are discouraging at all. I'd rather know the truth and save what little cash I have as to be led to thinking that there are these special cures. I know someone told my friend who works at the sheriffs dept. that "gogi" juice was what I needed to buy for Larry. I looked it up on the web and got bad vibes. We don't really even know what "they" put into all of these concoctions anyway. And it was way expensive. My friend kept on and on at me, and now it seems that she has forgotten about it! Lol.

Grace

01-26-2007, 02:00 PM

MARYCAIN

Yes, it seems like there's a new miracle cure or fad every week - like "gogi" juice. What they don't bother to tell you is that "gogi" juice is exactly the same thing as "wolfberry" juice, which you can find pretty cheaply in a lot of natural food stores. It's high in antioxidants, beta carotene and essential amino acids, so it is nutritious, but not a miracle cure for lupus. People think it has some magical health qualities because many of the mountain people in China and the Himalayas eat wolfberries as part of their regular diet, and a lot of them live to be 100. But people don't take into account that those people have different genes, a very clean environment free of most pollutants, lots of exercise, and a mostly vegetarian diet low in fat - just eating wolfberries isn't the magic secret. But the marketers make it sound like the wolfberries (or gogi berries) will make every one live to be 100. So people pay 27 dollars a bottle for a berry they could grow in a pot in their own yards. It makes me so angry that these marketers and promoters just incite people to waste their money on so called miracle cures. But the really sad thing is some people will stop taking their regular meds based on the empty promises of some snake-oil salesman on the web, and their physical health suffers more than their finances. So it's good that you're checking it out and not falling for the fads.

01-26-2007, 03:19 PM

Southernbelle

Marycain

I think some people are just really searching for that cure, and are easily fooled. Maybe some part of them is in denial, maybe some part of them is wanting that cure so much that they can not see anything else. I think that this type of marketing should be against the law. I have really seen alot of "cures" since Larry got so sick!
Grace

02-02-2007, 12:58 AM

bonnie

I reasearched DLPA after reading the post and it's so interesting and promissing! Lots of doctors talking about it. I can't take it because I'm trying to get pregnant but I will keep it in my mind for after having a baby.

So interesting too! I ran into quite a bit of info on it's experimental use in older arthritic dogs for chronic pain. Lots of vets seemed really pleased with the results. I put our 17 yr old australian shepard on it yesterday and I've already seen an improvement. She went and got her ball for the first time in 6mo. !

It's just an amino acid complex avalible cheap at health food stores. From what I read it works very differently from pain killers and has little side effects except for allergic reaction. It's cheap and seemingly safe with no drug interactions I know of so why not give it a go. Let me know if you do and how it goes.